Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Melvin Frank (sketches)
George S. Kaufman (sketches)

Release Date:

2 December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Variety

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Himself - Old Glory Number
Bob Hope	...	Himself - Master of Ceremonies
Fred MacMurray	...	Himself as Frank in Card Playing Skit
Franchot Tone	...	Himself as John in Card Playing Skit
Ray Milland	...	Himself as Joe in Card Playing Skit
Victor Moore	...	William 'Bronco Billy' Webster
Dorothy Lamour	...	Herself - Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang Number
Paulette Goddard	...	Herself - Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang Number
Vera Zorina	...	Herself - That Old Black Magic Number
Mary Martin	...	Herself - Hit the Road to Dreamland Number
Dick Powell	...	Himself - Hit the Road to Dreamland Number
Betty Hutton	...	Polly Judson
Eddie Bracken	...	Johnny Webster
Veronica Lake	...	Herself - Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang Number
Alan Ladd	...	Himself - Scarface Skit

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Naval Training Center, San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the jeep ride, one of the sailors is thrown out when the vehicle hits a bump and jumps onto a dirt road. The sailor is then shown back in the jeep in the next shot.

Quotes:

[In front of Old Glory and a plaster Mt. Rushmore]
Bing Crosby: [singing] Germans, Italians, and Japs / Can't kick us off our Rand-McNally maps.

Movie Connections:

References My Favorite Blonde (1942)

Soundtrack:

That Old Black Magic

Doing It For Defense

Betty Hutton, one of the nominal stars of Star Spangled Rhythm, was not just doing it for defense as in her number, but the whole studio was doing this All Star flag waver for the defense of the morale of the USA.

I can never resist one of these all star spectaculars and there's only one I would ever have given a bad review to, and this isn't the one. Everybody working on the Paramount lot got to do his bit for defense in this film, some bits being longer than others.

The nominal plot of this film has Betty Hutton as a switchboard girl at Paramount studios and Victor Moore, a former silent western star, now working as a security guard at the studio trying to convince Eddie Bracken and a bunch of his sailor buddies that Moore is really the head of the studio. For that they have to con and bamboozle Walter Abel who is a real studio executive out of his office and off the lot so they can do their masquerade uninterrupted.

Of course Bracken asks the inevitable, pop can you get all these stars down for a big Navy show, and the con has to continue. But all of this nonsense is just an excuse for some musical and comedy numbers by the Paramount players.

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote the score and out of it came two really big standards, That Old Black Magic which was nominated for Best Song that year, but lost to another Paramount film song, White Christmas and Hit the Road to Dreamland.

The latter was done as director Preston Sturges was playing himself and screening a musical number from his latest film. As the projector rolls on screen it's Dick Powell and Mary Martin on a Pullman car singing about finally hitting the hay after some romance. The scene is so well done I wish it was included as an integral part of a real film.

That Old Black Magic is sung by Johnny Johnson and danced by ballet star Vera Zorina. It was enormous hit that year, recorded by a flock of singers. Oddly enough not by Bing Crosby though he got to sing it in another film, Here Come the Waves.

Of course the finale is a wartime flag waving number with Bing Crosby singing Old Glory about the flag and the wonders of the country behind it. The number about the flag probably wouldn't fly today still and that's a pity.

It's even more of a pity that these musical extravaganzas are a thing of the past with the decline of the Hollywood studio system. Star Spangled Rhythm is one of the best of its kind.